London Light Celebrates the International Day of Light

On Thursday, 20 May, the London Institute for Advanced Light Technologies hosted The Shared Language of Light, an interdisciplinary panel event to celebrate light in all its forms.

The event was the culmination of Lighting Up 2021, a series of events that London Light hosted to celebrate the UNESCO International Day of Light. Lighting Up 2021 included an art project with light enthusiasts from around the globe, and the chance for people to share short videos about an element of light which delighted them (the submissions can be viewed on the London Light Instagram page)

The Shared Language of Light was hosted by artist and curator Dr Shelley James and after a short introduction from London Light co-director Anatoly Zayats, the panelists discussed the Lighting Up submissions and why they found them inspiring.

The panellists were physicist Dr James Millen, architect Mark Major, art publisher Kailas Elmer, colour specialist Marianne Shillingford and astronomer Bob Mizon OBE.

You can watch the event below:

Of the event, Professor Anatoly Zayats said ‘This was a fantastic event which captured all the essence of the International Day of Light and touched upon many aspects from the science of light to simply how light brightens our lives. It is light that made the event possible this year, both figuratively and literally, by connecting our computers through the internet. The discussions and presentations vividly demonstrated the role of light at very small scales, acting as a tool in nanotechnology, and at large scales helping us to study the Universe, the problems of light pollution, and our perception of colours and lighting. Our day-to-day job at the London Institute for Advanced Light Technologies is to study light, but it is important and extremely informative to have a broader conversation on the subject and engage with artists and society. We are proud to host this event and facilitate this fantastic interdisciplinary collaboration.’

You can watch the results of the Lighting Up art project below: